City of Vancouver putting food on the table

February 11, 2013

To enhance the city’s urban food system resilience against climate change and addressing issues such as resource depletion, growing inequity, loss of farms and farmlands and rising health care costs for diet-related diseases, the City Council of Vancouver has unanimously passed the Vancouver Food Strategy on 30 January 2012.

Encompassing the whole spectrum of food issues “from seed to table to compost heap and back again”, the Strategy provides a comprehensive official roadmap for local governments to integrate and coordinate all policies regarding agriculture and production, processing, distribution, access and waste management.

Some highlighted goals of the Strategy include enhancing local participation, empowering residents and expanding neighborhood food production and assets – a vision that aligns with the Vancouver Food Charter (2007) and the local food goal of the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan (2011). The city’s overall target is to increase its urban food assets – community gardens, orchards, urban farms, farmers markets, food processing infrastructure, community composting facilities and neighborhood food networks – by 50 percent by 2020.

Building on years of food system initiatives, grassroots community development, and support from institutions and other business partners, the Strategy advocates for a just and sustainable community-based food system as a step towards a greener urban economy.